Californians will adapt to living with drought, as we always have

Jay Lund
Climate change is exacerbating droughts and accelerating the transformation and decline of California’s native forest and aquatic ecosystems.  As a state, we are poorly organized to manage these effects, which need extensive focused preparation.  We need to adapt (and we will make mistakes in doing so).  Our human, economic and environmental losses will be much greater, however, if we manage poorly because of delay, complacency or panic.
We are a bit better prepared for this drought than for the 2012-2016 drought, but Californians, individually and collectively, will always need to expect and prepare for drought.
With its long dry season from April until October, every year California has a worse drought than the eastern United States has ever seen. Californians weather a single dry year pretty well, but a series of dry years brings problems for the environment, for agriculture, for rural communities depending on shallow wells, and sometimes for cities forced to ration water use. 

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